Who Plays Billy Grade in Peaky Blinders?

Here's Where You’ve Seen Peaky Blinders’ Billy Grade Before

3 October 2019 by Phoebe McRae

Peaky Blinders' season five sees Irish actor Emmett J. Scanlan play Billy Grade, an ex-professional footballer and budding singer who reluctantly gets drafted into the Peaky Blinders gang. Having starred in numerous TV shows and movies, including Guardians of the Galaxy and The Fall, Scanlan is no stranger to our screens, but many of you probably know him best from his tenure on Hollyoaks. His CV continues to impress, with upcoming roles in British crime drama Gangs of London and Treadstone, the Jason Bourne TV spin-off—both set to premiere later this year.

If you've been watching Peaky Blinders and wanted to know more about this scene-stealing star, read on for all the details.

Emmett J Scanlan was born on Jan. 31, 1979, in Dublin, Ireland.
He studied history and sociology at Maynooth University before landing minor roles in TV shows such as The Clinic, The Roaring Twenties, and The Phone with Justin Timberlake.
In 2010, Scanlan graced our screens as the moustachioed bad boy Brendan Brady in Hollyoaks. He stayed in the role for four years, starring alongside his now wife, Claire Cooper, who played another much-loved character, Jacqui McQueen.

He scored his first leading role as Charlie in 2011's Charlie Casanova, a film about a sociopath who kills a pedestrian in a hit-and-run.
He was next seen as Simon Monroe in British TV show In The Flesh.
In 2014, Scanlan had a small role as the Head Riot Guard in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.
From 2013 to 2016, he joined Gillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan, and Aisling Franciosi as Glen Martin in the hugely popular TV thriller The Fall.
In 2017, he had minor roles in Snatch and Overshadowed.
He next played Josh Mason in Harlan Coban's Safe with Michael C. Hall and Amy James-Kelly.
In 2018, Scanlan returned to British and Irish TV screens alongside Anna Friel in Butterfly and starred in Sharon Horgan's Women on the Verge.
He joined the cast of Peaky Blinders as Billy Grade in 2019.